Simeon Harmon Dunn comes to the San Luis Valley

Part 1 of 4 parts

I was born November 1, 1877, at Washington, Utah, the eldest of a family of nine children, five boys and four girls. They were Simeon Harmon Dunn, Levi Dunn, born Jan 9 1880, Tessie Dunn, born July 19, 1882 and died Oct 28 1882, elmer Dunn, born Sept 28, 1884, and Emily Dunn, born Nov 23, 1886. These five were all born in Washington, Utah. The following were born in Colorado: Eunice Dunn, born in Sanford on Oct 9, 1889, Etholen Silver Dunn, born at Eastdale on March 8, 1892, Charles Albert Dunn, born at Eastdale Jan 2, 1895, and Jared Willard Dunn, born at Eastdale on Sept. 9, 1897. Seven of the family are living at this writing January 19, 1959.

I was blessed and named by my Grandfather, Simeon Adams Dunn, Sr., Jan 12, 1878. For some reason not known to me, I was blessad again on the 5th of Feb. 1880, the same day my brother Levi was, this time by Andrew Larson. I spend the first part of my life as any normal boy, just growing and having fun. I remember when I was about nine or ten years old my father send me to a lot a ways from home to hoe some corn. While hoeing (and I didn't like to hoe) another boy came by and said, "Let's go in a neighbor's garden and get some watermelons." So we went and picked two of the nicest ones and into a bunch of trees to eat the, but they were still green and not good to eat.

The next day my father called me and said, "I hear you have been in the neighbor's garden stealing melons." Of course, I denied the charge, but it wasn'te any use. He knew I was guilty and I did, too, so I owned up to the charge.

He said, "Now you must go to these people and make it right." I tried to get out of going, but it was no use. So I went, but that was the hardest task I ever had to do. But I am thankful that my father saw that I made things right because I learned a lesson that I have never forgotten.

In August, 1883, my mother's mother, Eunice Chidester Harmon, a widow, took some of her children to Provo to school. My mother and her children went and stayed there three months with her and there I received my first schooling. I was then six years old.

On Jan 7, 1886, I was baptized by Robert F. Gould and confirmed by John P. Chidester. My mother was leader of the Sunday School Choir and practices were held at our home so I learned to sing the different parts in group singing, which has been a great help to me.

My father and mother had chills and fever a lot in Washington and hearing about the San Luis Valley in Colorado and thinking to improve their health, they decided to move. With two other families, Marcus Funk and Oscar Westover, they began the hourney on May 16, 1889. Bishop Funk had five wagons. Westover had two, and my father had three, making ten wagons. I drove one wagon all the way.

We traveled east and north passing through Cedar City, Parowan, Beaver, Richfield, Salina, up the Salina Canyon into Castle Valley to Huntington, where a brother of my mother's (Oliver Harmon) lived. We stopped there and visited a few days with him and his family. When the rest of our company arrived, we traveled east across some real rough country. Some places the road went across solid rock, small canyons and hills. This country they called Holes in the Rock. There was no water only in holes in the rock which had been filled by the rains, some of which were quite deep.

The next town was Green River. Here we came to the railroad, the same place where it now crosses Green River. Since it was spring, the river was high and there was no bridge so we had to cross on the ferry boat. This was accomplished without any trouble. We then started across the Utah desert which is dry exc ept for when it rains and then it is mud. We made it to a Mormon town on the bank of Grand River. This river is larger than Green River and again, there was no bridge, so we drove onto the ferry boat again. We were all standing by the rail or by the wagons looking toward the east bank when someone said, "Why don't we start?"

Someone else said, "Look back," and we were in the river moving steadily toward the opposite bank. From Moab, we went toward the southeast through rough country, bad roads, and scarcely any water. One night when we camped for the night, there wasn't any water for the stock. Some of the men went up a small canyon and climbed to the top of a rise in the bottom of the gulch about 12 or 15 feet high and found a deep hole in the rock filled with water, so with a bucket to dip and a cup at the bottom we watered our stock. We passed to one side of Monticello, Utah, and soon crossed the Utah-Colorado line.

We went through Mancos, Durango, and Pagosa Springs, then turned more toward the south toward the Continental Divide to Chama, New Mexico. Here we turned toward the north over Cumbres Pass, followed the narrow gague railroad most of the way across the pass. We came over a toll road across as far as Osier and then into the San Luis Valley, down the Conejos River to the town of Manassa. We started on the 16th of May and landed in Manassa on the 16 of July, just two months living and camping in wagons. Although we had many hardships, we also had good times. We never traveled on Sundays, unless it was necessary to get water for the stock. After leaving the river ranches, we traveled across the valley to Manassa without fences or anything to hinder. At that timer, there were no houses in Romeo, just a switch (for the failroad). We camped just north of the John Marshall place north of town for one day while the men looked around to decide where we would locate. Bishop funk and my father decided to locate in Sanford and camped on the block where the high school now stands.

A few days later, we moved into part of Bishop Bethelson's house. A short time later, we traded a team and wagon for a lot with a small house and a dugout on it, and moved into a place of our own. I was eleven years old at the time of our trip. I went to school two winters in Sanford. On Marcy 30, 1891, we moved to Eastdale in Costilla County. On August 23, 1891, Eastdale was made a Branch of Sanford Ward with my father as Presiding Elder. On Janyary 18, 1893, I was ordained a deacon by Bishop Soren C. Berthelson at Sanford. On January 29, 1893, Eastdale was organized into a ward by John Henry Smith and others with Marcus Funk as Bishop. On December, 1893, I was set apart as president of the Deacon's Quorum, which position I held till the fall of 1896.

(From Simeon's own history found in "A History of the Ancestors and Descendents of Siemon harmon Dunn and Anna Buletta Jensen", compiled by Vera Dunn Olivier, published privately June, 1993. pp19-21)